In the TV movie How to Build a Better Boy, Berglund plays a young woman who falls in love with a robot that has unique abilities. But in Berglund's regular TV series Lab Rats, she plays one of the bionic characters.

“It's weird how both involve some sort of superhuman bionics thing, but it was kind of nice seeing it from the other perspective, being fascinated with this robot boy,” the 18-year-old Berglund said with a laugh.

How to Build a Better Boy, which was filmed in Toronto last summer, debuts Friday, Aug. 15 on Family Channel in Canada and on Disney Channel in the United States.

Berglund plays Mae Hartley, a nerdy high school student for whom science and technology come naturally. Mae and her equally gifted best friend Gabby Harrison (China Anne McClain) plan to take over the world one math test at a time. But things take a turn when social embarrassment causes Mae to blurt out to the cool kids that she has a boyfriend.

Prove it, they say. Gulp.

Mae and Gabby conspire to create the ultimate virtual boyfriend, something that will fool even today's tech-savvy teens, while at the same time fulfilling Mae's every desire about what a perfect boyfriend would be. Problem is, the computer system Mae and Gabby hack into to help them with their task doesn't create only virtual people.

Shortly afterward, Mae's perfect boyfriend, Albert – played by Canadian Marshall Williams – shockingly shows up at school. He's the dream hunky guy, totally devoted to Mae. She eventually comes to understand that Albert is some sort of robot, but that doesn't stop her from gazing deeply into his eyes and getting the feeling that he's all man.

“(Mae) is the one who ends up learning the lesson, and it all falls back onto her, because of course at the beginning of the movie she's very innocent and not very confident in herself,” Berglund said. “It's when she gets the perfect boyfriend, and the popularity that goes along with it, that she changes and becomes this new person. She doesn't realize what all this is doing to her.

“She has to dig deep emotionally to find out what's true and what's real and get back to her true self, and not just this false happiness that she's surrounded herself with. She has a lot of soul-searching to do throughout this movie, and I think it's kind of cool that she's the one who gets to do all that.”

The last comment refers to the fact that while How to Build a Better Boy definitely is a comedy, Berglund's role is the most serious.

“When I first read this it was surreal because you go from being this cute little teenager who is part of this ensemble cast (on Lab Rats), playing a character who just kind of goes through life with super powers, to this role, which was very different,” Berglund said.

“Doing drama always has been a strength of mine, it was comedy that I really had to work on when I booked Lab Rats. But now I'm grateful to have the opportunity to play this kind of leading lady who has this romantic thing going on with this robot boy.”

For a California girl, Berglund is spending a lot of time in Canada these days. She'll be back in the fall to co-host the second season of the outdoor-competition series Grizzly Cup.

Coincidentally, there's a funny Canada-related moment in How to Build a Better Boy when Berglund's Mae is listing the characteristics her perfect boyfriend should have. One of them is, “He would be super polite. Like, almost Canadian.”

“I thought that was pretty funny,” Berglund agreed. “But when I filmed the movie in Canada, everyone was just so nice. I didn't meet anyone who was mean.”

Hey, if there ever is a movie about bionic kindness, give Kelli Berglund a call.